Transition from co sleeping to baby in cot

[glittermagic]

Hi everyone,
Our LO is 4 months and since she was born she has been sleeping with us and it has worked wonderfully. Since about 2 months she has been sleeping right through from about 10 - 6/6.30. We have been really happy co sleeping, but are aware it can't go on forever, and tbh I think we feel pressured by well-meaning family members to try and get her to sleep in her cot. I also practised attachment parenting from the start and credit that to LO being so content.
During the day she sleeps in her carrycot in our room and occasionally when she has fallen asleep before we go to bed I have put her in that and she has slept til 1 or 2am, waking for a feed and then going back to sleep til morning.
I feel torn because I am really pro co sleeping but on the other hand I understand that it is hindering my husband and I from being intimate (ahem!) and don't want her to get reliant on sleeping with me. Having read the literature it seems that co sleeping babies do adjust to sleeping on their own anyway.
So, after this rambling post, my questions are - Has anyone been in a similar position to me? What age did LO stop co sleeping and how did you most successfully make the transition to them sleeping on their own? She has a cot in her nursery but I'm not sure how I feel about her sleeping in her own room just yet.
Thanks in advance for your help
x

Marking my place as DS is 10 weeks and we co-sleep but I would like him in his cot within the next couple of months tops!

We are in the middle of this transition at the moment with our 5.5 month old. We had a great co sleeping experience but like you we were ready for a change and in the hot weather a snuggling baby was making us both v uncomfy.

We tried a half way stage with having him on his cot mattress next to our bed but it didn't work so we decided we had to go the whole way in one go, otherwise we would just have to do another transition later on. I used the pupd method (sort of) with stroking him rather than actually picking up every 10 minutes. It seems to be working so far but it has involved tears. This has been hard but I think whatever we had done would have as
LO just wants to sleep on or right next to me.

I am in a very similar situation currently trying to get lo off me and into crib. I've co slept since she was 2 weeks old (now 8 weeks) due to her being poorly and very unsettled. Now I can't get her to sleep or settle anywhere other than my arms, night or day. I am desperately trying to get her in her crib at night. But she sleeps so well on me and stirs and cries in crib. I read somewhere to do it gradually so allow them to sleep with you until first feed then put them in cot/crib after that. I tried it last night and lo slept 3 hours in crib!! So fingers crossed

We ended up co-sleeping accidently - DD fed so often in the early days that it was the only way I got any decent sleep. She'd also only sleep in a person's arms for naps. So at about 3 months I started getting her to nap in her cot, and then moved on to the night sleep at about 4-5 months. I was getting achey muscles from lying rigid all night, and DH was sleeping on a mattress in the floor cos he was scared of rolling on her in his sleep! People made lots of 'helpful' comments when they found out we were co-sleeping, but with hindsight I think it was what we needed to do to get through those early months. And DD is also a very content baby; I do think it helped.

DD's cot is one where you can take a side down, so that the cot mattress joins on to your mattress, and using that worked for us. I wasn't ready for CC, so having her at arm's length was great - when she woke I could stroke her head or pat her, while still snuggled up in my own bed. I got more disciplined about putting her back in there every time - e.g. not letting myself fall asleep during nursing. Sometimes she still ended up in with me at the beginning, but I think within 6 weeks she was always in her cot. It wasn't fast and it did interrupt my sleep, but it was virtually tear-free.

We actually did the room move around the same time - I slept in a single bed in her room with the cot next to me. Once she was consistently in her cot, I put the side back up and moved it a few inches from my bed. Then across the other side of the room. Then went back to my own bedroom when she was about 7 months - could've done it sooner, but I got a bit emotional about it - she was not bothered at all.

I saw a great t-shirt somewhere with the slogan 'co-sleepers do it in the kitchen'

Made me chuckle.